Trudeau pledges fix coming for Phoenix

FREDERICTON – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was pressed again today on whether he would scrap the troubled Phoenix pay system that has left thousands of government employees with either too much or no pay at all.

A woman put the question to Trudeau at a town hall in Fredericton, saying she was there to represent herself and other workers who have been affected by what she called the “Phoenix nightmare.”

The seasonal contract worker at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown said she hasn’t been able to get any answers about the ongoing problem that has left dozens of her colleagues either without pay or, like herself, receiving overpayments.

Trudeau reiterated that officials are working to repair the system, but wouldn’t agree to replace it or revert to the previous payroll system because he said it was unreliable and inefficient.

The exchange was the latest in his cross-country series of town halls that saw him meet with hundreds of people in Dartmouth, N.S., on Monday before heading to more stops in New Brunswick today.

The prime minister also faced questions about electoral reform, a United Nations declaration supporting indigenous rights, the Energy East pipeline, and what his daughter wants to be when she grows up.